True Crime: Streets of LA - Student Review
Score: 80% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Activision Developer: Activision Media: GCD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Third Person Shooter
Graphics & Sound: For a person who has a good artistic sense and has a keen eye for attention to detail, True Crime: Streets of LA is a pretty good choice. The different special effects, such as the main character jumping in slow motion in mid-air, make you feel like you're watching an action movie. During the different missions, the lighting effects and shadows of every object give the scene a more defined look. The elements that really make the game are the sound and music. From the characters' voices to the sounds of the shots being fired, the sounds of the cars and any crashes, the sound effects really make the scenes come alive. With the different options that are available in the game, you can even change the stations of the radio in the car. True Crime: Streets of LA's music gives you the emotion of actually being in the game and wanting to interact with the characters. Although there are many qualities that True Crime: Streets of LA has to offer, during a few of the fight scene missions, it may be a bit difficult to see the characters and the surroundings in various angles. In trying to run in particular directions, a wall may block your sight of your character.
Gameplay: True Crime: Streets of LA is a 1 player action/third-person shooter that's very similar to Grand Theft Auto, but replaces the criminal with the cop and allows you the option of trying to solve a crime in the storyline by proceeding through different obstacles and missions, or just cruising through the streets causing havoc and mayhem in the city of LA. The story starts off with the background of how the main character, Nick Kang, becomes a cop by following his father's footsteps and how the whole plot of the story is based upon finding what happened to his father. All through the missions, Nick is getting closer and closer to the answer. In these missions, you are fighting and capturing different suspects that will get you closer to what happened. It's the basic storyline to any kind of action game: a crime is committed and it is up to the cop or detective to solve the crime. In the twist of the game, you could either be a good cop or a bad cop. For the person who likes the choice of not even bothering to know about the storyline, this is still a good game to play when you just feel like being destructive and feel the urge to drive around as Snoop Dogg and run over a few innocent pedestrians. When I feel like relaxing or blowing off some steam, I go straight to my controller and open fire and run over a couple of people.
Difficulty: True Crime: Streets of LA is at a pretty reasonable playing level. When advancing through each mission, it's understandable that each level would be a little harder than the previous; you may even have to remain on the same mission over and over, trying to think of a variety of strategies, in order to complete the mission. For some levels, I would advise you to set aside some time to play, because you might be there for a while.
Game Mechanics: The game control for True Crime: Streets of LA is pretty straightforward and simple. (L) is used for entering and exiting your vehicle, (R) is used for aiming and firing your weapon, (Z) is for reloading, (A) is for accelerating, (B) is for reverse and (X) and (Z) is for kicking and punching your opponent throughout the fighting scenes. The analog stick is used to control the car and the main character's direction. There is a sequence of codes to unlock a celebrity that you can use to play the main character and cruise around the city of LA. I believe that the controls make the game much easier to play than some of the action and third person shooters that are out there. You don't have to post reminders of what combination of buttons do what.
-Kalandra Evans
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